A sad day for Londoners as their iconic London Eye landmark is dismantled in preparation for its journey to Dubai, where it will be re-erected alongside the equally iconic Burj Khalifa.
The 135m tall, 1,000 ton Eye, originally named the Millennium Wheel, was constructed in 1999 and primarily funded by investments from the UAE on a 25 year lease, which expires this year.
Consequently the Dubai Eye – which the structure will be renamed after moving – has been transferred to the UAE’s ownership according to the funding lease agreement drawn up in 1998.
Although most Londoners are sad to see it disappear from the city’s skyline, not all are unhappy to see it go:
Black cab driver Eddie Snodder (52) remarked “Good riddance to it. All it did was go round and round, using up a load of electric what we could be using to heat our taxi shelter. It’s bloody freezing in here”
The project to dismantle, and then ship the entire structure in 36 sections and reassemble in it’s new desert home will take until August this year to complete.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced that in its place he is planning to build a multi-story, multi faith, socially diverse and pan-gender cycle storage facility to further boost his clean air plans for the Capital.
A sad day for Londoners
